1. Field of the Invention
The present Invention relates to discharging air current control methods and apparatus for a room air conditioner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional air conditioner has, as shown in FIG. 1, a suction grille member 5 provided at a front lower portion of the main body 1 including suction inlets 3 for admitting room air, and a discharge outlet 7 for discharging indoors the air heat-exchanged (warmed or cooled) by a heat-exchanger, the outlet 7 disposed at a front upper portion of the body 1.
Vertical and horizontal sets of blades 11 and 9 extend across the discharge outlet 7 for use in adjusting the respective vertical and horizontal directions in which the heat-exchanged air is discharged indoors through the discharge outlet 7. A cover member 13 attached to the front surface of the body 1 is used in protecting the interior of the body 1 and is usually designed to give a good appearance thereto. In a lower area of the cover member 13 is disposed a manipulating portion in the form of a control panel 15 for selecting desired operation modes of the air conditioner such as automatic mode, cooling, heating, defrost, air-cleaning, and so forth, and a start/stop of the air conditioner, and also for adjusting the amount or flow directions of the air discharged through the discharge outlet 7.
As shown in FIG. 2, filter member 17 is installed adjacent an inner side of the suction grille member 5 for filtering-out foreign substances contained in the room air, and an oblong-shaped heat exchanger 19 is provided downstream of the filter member 17 such that the room air from the filter member 17 is thermally exchanged with cold or warm refrigerant by the evaporation latent heat of the refrigerant.
Over the heat exchanger 19 is disposed a blower fan 23 (hereinafter also referred to as an indoor fan) which is rotated in response to the driving of an indoor fan motor 21, for sucking the room air through the suction inlet 3 and also discharging indoors the heat-exchanged air through the discharging outlet 7. Around the indoor fan 40 is installed a duct member 25 to guide the airflow from the suction inlet 3 to the discharge outlet 7 and also to serve as a protection for the indoor fan 23.
In the conventional air conditioner thus constructed, if a user selects a desired operational mode through either a remote controller or the operation manipulating portion 15, and then depresses an operation key, the indoor fan 23 is rotated such that the room air is sucked into the body 1 through the suction inlet 3.
The sucked air passes through the filter member 17 for filtering-out any foreign substances such as dust entrained in the room air. The cleaned air is then heat-exchanged by the evaporating latent heat of the refrigerant flowing in the heat-exchanger 19 when the sucked air passes across the heat-exchanger 19.
The air heat-exchanged by the heat-exchanger 19 is guided into an upper portion of the body 1 by the duct member 25 and then discharged indoors through the discharge outlet 7 in a direction determined according to adjustments of the vertical and horizontal blades 11, 9 for accomplishing the conditioning of the room air.
In controlling the vertical and horizontal flow directions established by the vertical and horizontal blades 11, 9 the position of horizontal blades 9 is adjusted each time a key on the operation manipulating portion 15 is actuated, and the blades 9 are not moved any longer when the key is turned off. Similarly, the position of the vertical blades 11 is varied each time another key is actuated, and the blades 11 are not moved any longer when that key is turned off.
However, this manipulation is inconvenient in that a user has to visually confirm the respective positions of both sets of blades 9, 11 to verify that a desired pattern of an air current has been set. Furthermore, there are problems in that the air is discharged only in directions which are vertically or horizontally set, depending upon the given angles of the blades 9, 11, resulting in a somewhat narrow range of air flow, and further, an air speed and distance to which the discharged air can be delivered cannot be easily controlled.
Further, to condition the entire room, it is necessary to re-adjust the angles of the blades 9, 11 at predetermined time intervals, and in order to air condition remote areas of the room an increase in the speed of the discharging air may be needed. This burdens a user with the need for making periodic adjustments of the air blowing direction, as well as the air speed.